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<title>Watching From The Sidelines by Oriki-Miitad (Sneaking_UnicornWitch)</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29471163">Watching From The Sidelines</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sneaking_UnicornWitch/pseuds/Oriki-Miitad'>Oriki-Miitad (Sneaking_UnicornWitch)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe of an Alternate Universe, Gen, Inter-battalion Rivalry, Podfic Welcome, Sparring, Star Wars AU - Soft Wars, Swearing, brothers being brothers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 21:29:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,199</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29471163</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sneaking_UnicornWitch/pseuds/Oriki-Miitad</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Echo and the rest of Domino get the comm that Wolffe and Cody will be sparring, there’s only one thing they can do. </p><p>Get there as quick as possible, of course.</p><p>   ft. inter-battalion rivalry, Echo feels, realisations about the CCs, and Hardcase being entirely predictable</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>62</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Open Source Soft Wars</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Watching From The Sidelines</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The spar in this certainly causes no lasting injury, and I don't believe it to be a graphic description of violence by any means. But I don’t think I’ve ever written a fight scene before so just let me know if anyone feels the tags need updating.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The training room is filling up when Echo and his brothers slip in, air hot already from the sheer number of bodies crammed into the space.</p><p> </p><p>Jesse waves them over, a vibrating Hardcase already at his side. “Dominoes! Over here!”</p><p> </p><p>He squeezes their shoulders when they get there. “How long have you guys been staking out this spot then?”</p><p> </p><p>Jesse just shrugs, an affected nonchalance; it’s Hardcase who cackles. “Jesse let the ‘pack shinies overhear that the last time we were at a spar with Commander Cody he flung his partner across the room. They’re right over there now.”</p><p> </p><p>Sure enough, a trio of faintly terrified troopers in grey and gleaming white plastoid stood as far away from the fightring as possible.</p><p> </p><p>“So, who do you reckon’s going to win? My bet’s on Wolffe.” Hardcase asks.</p><p> </p><p>Jesse’s quietly muttered <em> no surprises there </em> gets a giggle out of Hevy. Fives pinches him in the gap above his elbow plate and hisses before saying, “<b>I</b> think the Marshal Commander’s in with a shot. He fights dirty on the field, that’s for sure.”</p><p> </p><p>“Technically they are both Marshal Commanders, <em> vod</em>.” Echo corrects. Winces at Fives’ huff.</p><p> </p><p>“Well <em> technically </em> I don’t care, Echo. Commander Cody’s <em> our </em> Marshal Commander, anyway. So I’m not <em> technically </em> wrong.” Fives’ face twists in apology, as Echo can feel his own face go blank. He knows Fives doesn’t mean it, but that doesn’t make it any less hurtful. </p><p> </p><p>The cluster falls into silence, boots scuffing the floor. </p><p> </p><p>It’s DB, forceblessed Droidbait who picks up the slack, drives the conversation on. “Didn’t you hear about the way they all akkpiled Grevious? I wish I could’ve seen that!”</p><p> </p><p>But then they all talk over each other, and Echo can’t make out anything in particular, the reverberating chatter of so many voices in the room sets him on edge. He wipes his hands down his thighs hard, only stopping when Droidbait grasps one of them tight and gives it a quick pump.</p><p> </p><p>”All okay, Ey’ika?” He asks, brown eyes searching, their previous mirth lost. He nods and brings his eyes up off the floor. The others aren’t looking at him yet, so he can’t have been stuck in his bucket too long.</p><p> </p><p>Hardcase is quietly chatting to a member of the 104th, slightly younger by the awestruck way he’s staring at Hardcase’s tattoos, the rest of them in their ARC pauldrons and kama.</p><p> </p><p>There's a rumbling, "Don't take that bet, <em> vod’ika</em>,” as a member of the Wolfpack with zigzags on his chest plate walks over, almost sending the kid flying forwards with the force of the pat on the back he gives him. He continues, “We all love Commander Wolffe but you haven't seen Cody in action."</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, why’d’you have to ruin all our fun?” Hardcase starts to grumble, but he’s stopped by a hush and kick from Cutup hitting the back of his calf. </p><p> </p><p>It’s starting.</p><p> </p><p>“<em>Vodeeeeee</em>,” Rex roars out into the assembled crowd.</p><p> </p><p>“Here’s the spar you’ve all been waiting to see! Commander Wolffe of the Wolfpack verrrrrrsussss Commander Cody from the 212th!” Rex was bucketless, and they could all see the <em>osik</em>-eating grin he was wearing as he took on the mantle of commentator. Echo thought that when they’d been given instruction on how to make sure they could be heard across a battlefield if comms went down this wasn’t quite the use case their trainers had been expecting. </p><p> </p><p>Wolffe and Cody both stepped into the ring, stripped down to lowers only and barefoot. Cheers and heckles starting as they squared off against each other. Echo knew the two of them were close, squadmates, which always gave an interesting dynamic to any spar. There were plenty of his own experiences to know <em> that </em> was the case. </p><p> </p><p>“Ready to get your <em>sheb</em> kicked, <em> vod’ika</em>?” Wolffe growls, but Cody doesn’t take the bait. Doesn’t swing into movement.</p><p> </p><p>Instead he flicks fingers clever, quick. They move almost faster than Echo can catch, a scathing insult about the purported sexual history of his cloning vat.</p><p> </p><p>Wolffe just laughs, a full body thing. </p><p> </p><p>Echo can’t see the moment that Wolffe decides to pounce, but it’s obvious Cody has. He rolls under as Wolffe moves in only to find himself tackling thin air. They spin back around each other, jabbing and kicking and Wolffe does something that makes Cody laugh a breath before Wolffe smacks an elbow into his kidney.</p><p> </p><p>The spar is vicious, it’s so obvious in their every move that they know each other well.</p><p> </p><p>A leg gets swiped and they’re on the floor, twin dark hair and flailing limbs grabbing and jabbing. Echo’s not entirely sure what belongs to who, which is which Commander any more.</p><p> </p><p>The room is wild, jeering and cheering. There’s a shout of ‘<em>get him, Commander’ </em> from… the audience, though Echo’s not got a clue which <em> vod </em> it came from or which of the two fighters they might have meant. </p><p> </p><p>Someone shoves two fingers up a nostril and flexes them, pulls the head out from where it had been going to bite a calf. Now he can see cheek it turns out that the biter was Cody, which he hadn’t been expecting. </p><p> </p><p>“Fucking hell, they’re worse than tubies.” Jesse parade-whispers, in a gentle awe.</p><p> </p><p>The Captain has indeed often told them that his squadmates were awful, hypocritical, tubescrapings. Not a single one of them had believed him. Echo reckons he might, now.</p><p> </p><p>Wolffe has a leg over Cody’s chest, heel of his foot tucked in on his neck, toes curling to push his face onto the springy floor; it can’t be comfortable, and a few seconds later Cody’s body goes lax, head flopping back and grounds out a “Yield” that makes the 104th contingent in the room get impossibly louder. </p><p> </p><p>Echo can see a load of lads in gold looking rather put out, the cause quite obviously a very smug Comet with a load of contraband, his utility pouches over-stuffed.</p><p> </p><p>The room thins out, brothers heading off to shifts or to the mess hall or just to relax back in the barracks. A 212th medic saunters over to the two panting commanders, with two canteens, and Cody pulls Wolffe off the mat himself and they cluster, drinking their waters and checking themselves over for injuries. Echo looks away. </p><p> </p><p>“Guess I should have let the pup take your bet, Torrent, split the winnings with ‘im.” It’s the older 104th <em> vod </em> from earlier, and it’s down to Jesse to hold Hardcase back by the collar of his uppers as the wolfpack member walks smugly away. </p><p> </p><p>Hardcase, whose arms are windmilling wildly, grinds out an, “I karking <em> hate </em> those guys.”</p><p> </p><p>“We know, ‘Case. We know.”</p><p> </p><p>It’s a well-worn conversation. Echo wonders how many times they’ll have it before Hardcase actually considers what he says, and how many more times it’ll be before he considers how he feels. The <em> why </em> he feels it is a pretty lost cause, Echo reckons. </p><p> </p><p>Rex has joined Wolffe and Cody’s cluster, but Echo’s attention is drawn to Fives stripping out of his plates. </p><p> </p><p>“C’mon Echo, let’s burn off some of that energy,” he slaps him on the back and grins, toothy. </p><p><br/>
Oh, it is <em> on</em>.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm on tumblr <a href="https://oriki-miitad.tumblr.com/">here</a>, come say hi!</p><p>I've not used any unusual Mando'a in this, I don't think.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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